Secessionists Differ on Cities’ Boundaries

Hollywood secessionists released a map of their proposed new city Monday, claiming a stretch of Mulholland Drive that San Fernando Valley cityhood backers had previously proposed to be part of their new city.

Valley and Hollywood cityhood leaders downplayed the dispute. In the end, they said, any boundaries are merely proposals, and the Local Agency Formation Commission will make the final decision.

“This is not a battle over boundaries,” said Richard Close, chairman of Valley VOTE.

The proposed Hollywood city boundary goes as far north in the Cahuenga Pass as Woodrow Wilson Drive, where it intersects with the Hollywood Freeway, so the city would include all of Mulholland Drive to the south. The proposed Valley boundary goes to the southern edge of Mulholland Drive at the Hollywood Freeway.

The proposed four-square-mile city of Hollywood also includes Forest Lawn Memorial Park but excludes Griffith Park. The population of the proposed city is about 160,000, said Fares Wehbe, president of Hollywood VOTE.

“This proposed city will be the envy of cities across the nation and the world, a city with a vision,” Wehbe said.

Meanwhile, a group supporting the study of cityhood for the San Pedro area filed a written protest Monday of the city of Los Angeles’ plan to use Harbor Department funds to pay for a breakaway study.

The harbor is operated by the city as a public trust in an agreement with the state.

Andrew Mardesich, director of the Harbor Study Foundation, said the new harbor city will ask to take over the agreement to manage the port, contending that L.A. has traditionally misspent profits for non-harbor expenses.

He said state law limits the use of funds generated by the Port of Los Angeles to port costs, and asserted that L.A. has failed in the past to use port funds for legal efforts to reduce the negative impact of the harbor operation on surrounding neighborhoods.

“It is illegal,” Mardesich said of L.A.’s plan to tap $20,000 in Harbor Department funds for its share of the cityhood study.